PlaneShift
Fan Area => The Hydlaa Plaza => Topic started by: Elvicat on April 12, 2011, 10:38:59 pm
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The topic might be a litle blunt but yeah... my company is having mayor dificulty staying alive atm but it's also only me working "in" it.
I'd like to advertise BUT i don't have any money left and almost no work so i'm stuck in a bad circle, no income means not being able to advertise and not being able to do that means no work again :(
I've tried printing out fliers and myself and a friend going out with them to nearby cities and villages to get customers but right now that's not really a good solution either, my company is in a village and the nearest city is 17km away and is quite small, the nearest "real" city is 40km away so i'm also at nowhere so to speak, ads in a newspaper isn't doable as i have no money to spend.
So now i'm asking this comunity for ideas on how to get more customers so i can get more money and maybe starts running ads again and making life alitle easier.
You can find info on what i do at this adress http://www.aec-data.multi.fi if you don't understand swedish just press the english flag button :)
Hopefully someone has an idea on how to get out of this situation without closing down the firm for good.
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Are you on top (or in the top four) in google if you search for things like "computer repair Munsala"? If not: have you thought about using google adwords?
You will probably pay little for each click to your site that way. Since you repair in a circle around your city you can set it to only display in search results for google in that area. If there is no other company advertising in those keywords it might cost you only 0,01 dolar for each click. (So you pay only if people click on your ad and get to your site). This does of course cost you some money but if you set it up right that should be very low. Best thing you can do is make an google account and set up a campaign. Make sure you set it for Sweden only (or a smaller area if possible) and only choose search terms like "computer repair city-near-you" (Make a lot of those combinations so everyone who searches for a computer reparation finds you on top of the list). Never choose search terms like "computer reparation" this will reach a lot of people who might live somewhere else. Also make sure to only advertise in the search engine (not in google parnet network and stuff). If you do this you will also need to make one page on you website on which you say that since they have computer problems and you can help them, are closeby and cheap they should call you to help them. Also make sure to tell them there that you can come to their home. Give a bullet point list of what you can do for them, and put a phone number in and tell them they can call you to get a quik and cheap (put hour rate in) reparation. Having this on one page with only little text will make it clear and easy for people to contact you.
I don't know if this will work for your area. But if it does it's probably as cheap as it gets. At the very worst it will do nothing and you will have spend some time setting it up and a small , or people find you but don't need you at that moment (but if you choose your search terms right they shouldn't). If you have any questions setting it up, be sure to post them or pm me or something. ;)
Note: If you want to do this, make sure to use google insights to check out if there are any search terms that people use for this. Maybe they don't even search for this kind of thing near you. This tool should tell you that up front. It might however still work to put it up if this doesn't show every little person that does look for it is very relevant. But if those few are worth the effort I can't say.
ANyway! It sucks that you're going through this and I hope you can sort it out! :)
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I doubt i'd pay google for work i however use adsence and analytics and i've added a few search words into the front 2 pages thanks to analytics, also i'm on google maps so that way i show up too.
btw i do have stuff on what i do and what it costs if you've really checked the pages on there.
http://www.aec-data.multi.fi/serviceen.php a direct link to what i do, i know it's a litle long BUT on the old page i had it so small that you'd rather go HUH? instead of AHA! ;D
thanks anyway for the ideas.
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Are there any forums or discussion groups for your area that talk about things related to your business? I've heard one way to use social networks like this to advertise is to become an active participant in discussion boards that cover topics related to your business. Don't start pushing your company right away but after you have established yourself with a good reputation then you can start to casually mention your company or include your link , if it is allowed, in your posts. Just look for ways to build your network of people you know via the internet and when it is appropriate mention you work in the field if people are looking for that type of work done.
I know where I use to live there was a neighborhood email list. While out right advertising was against the rules of the list you could certainly mention you worked in the field wen problems related to what your business did was mentioned. PLus a lot of people on that email list liked to support a business owned by someone who was a neighbor.
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no nothing like that around here and as i live in a village... yeah right lol
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I"ve started a business in the last 5 months, I live in a town of maybe 4000, 100 KM to the next town of similar population. There is heavy government money in town to drive economics which may not be available in your area.
My marketing strategy was simple. design a clean easily identifiable logo, print business cards (I know this costs some, first batch I did at home) , and go knock on doors, make my face known, present your self as a option to call on. I made sure I hit all the business, town run buildings, try presenting your self as a "sub contractor" (sorry I'm in Construction) to business as an option to hiring full time tech support. Also ask if the business will keep several cards of yours to give out if they hear of others who need work done.
I'm an Electrician and already I have enough work ... in fact I end up working 9-10 hrs most days with paper work, estimating, ordering, and accounting.
I realize your Village may be to small for this, but these are just ideas maybe this will give you an idea that will work for you.
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I like Ench's ideas, a good simple logo, that will look simple but stand out. Also I think that knocking on people's doors is more friendlier and more professional, than placing flyers in a letter box.
Also is there any community notice boards around? You could place poster on them to get some publicity. You'd be surprised at how many people will read them, always leave a rip off contact details thing at the bottom.
Do you have a sign out front of your business? If not get artistic find some wood and find someone with an old real estate sign and cut out letters and put in place.
Is it possible to get a more simple web address for your website. It does seem a little tricky to remember.
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Google Adwords is quite a "risky" service. Its optimization requires a lot of experience, and of course Google is interested in its fees - so competing companies may have to rise their payment for good keywords to be listed at all. Furthermore, visitors may avoid obviously sponsored search results. Free-of-charge SEO is even more complicated, though. It still mostly relies on backlinks to your website. A network of pages with really unique content matched with important keywords (Google Webmaster Tools can help discovering valuable combinations) can pull you onto the first page, but requires experience too.
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I wish I could help, I looked for a "craigslist" there but it is not used like it is in the states (http://helsinki.en.craigslist.fi/) ...here it actually is legit to find jobs/computer parts there...
I'm sure your company is viable, if only people would know about it....I do like the idea of getting in the car and traveling around with business cards and flyers on your company, in your village and all of the nearby villages...maybe that is too old fashioned, but I like the idea....
EDIT: just noticed that you said it's not the right thing to do now, drive all over creation to advertise... :(
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Google Adwords is indeed something you would have to put some thought in of course. But if you only do it locally that will most of the time mean there is no competition (= almost no costs, and you can set a maximum ammount anyway). As Ligh pointed out it is indeed something people may not click on, but if you're else not shown on the top four results or at least the first page people will otherwise not find you anyway.
On another note: If you are able you might want to try looking for a (parttime) job. Just a couple hours or maybe one day per week might really help you while you cross the gap between this moment and one where youre company is doing better again. Since it might take some time to build up a bigger group of customers it might help to be less dependend on your firm for a while. I don't know if it's possible in your situation but if it is this would hopefully help.
Also: if you can think of something it can be good to sent current customers and recent customers something (assuming you know their adresses). This can be a card wishing them a happy holiday (if anything noticable is comming up, like eastern I believe). This will make them think of your film again and help you keep those. It is also something people are likely to talk about to friend much more then when getting a flyer because they usually like it. So you get much more attention while having to distribute less letters, flyers or what have you.
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When there are no other avenues available, you photocopy flyers and stick them on cars, in slots, wherever. You might laugh, but it works.
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I know i'm gonna sound like a pessimist with this but i've had all luck gone bad litery so maybe that's why i'm so "whiny" ig./me thinks about a few people that knows how he is "you know who you are" :P
I"ve started a business in the last 5 months, I live in a town of maybe 4000, 100 KM to the next town of similar population. There is heavy government money in town to drive economics which may not be available in your area.
My marketing strategy was simple. design a clean easily identifiable logo, print business cards (I know this costs some, first batch I did at home) , and go knock on doors, make my face known, present your self as a option to call on. I made sure I hit all the business, town run buildings, try presenting your self as a "sub contractor" (sorry I'm in Construction) to business as an option to hiring full time tech support. Also ask if the business will keep several cards of yours to give out if they hear of others who need work done.
I'm an Electrician and already I have enough work ... in fact I end up working 9-10 hrs most days with paper work, estimating, ordering, and accounting.
I realize your Village may be to small for this, but these are just ideas maybe this will give you an idea that will work for you.
Well can't say much on this except it's similair to what i've done in the past with litle to no luck, i don't really know how many people there are in this reagion but i'm thinking 1000-2000, so it's a small area in population but i have a large buisness radius that i normaly work in say... 60-70km in all directions.
Also i did make a "buisness card" out of an ad i once had in a local newspaper heh still have it around, i usualy gave those to new people i've visited.
I like Ench's ideas, a good simple logo, that will look simple but stand out. Also I think that knocking on people's doors is more friendlier and more professional, than placing flyers in a letter box.
Also is there any community notice boards around? You could place poster on them to get some publicity. You'd be surprised at how many people will read them, always leave a rip off contact details thing at the bottom.
Do you have a sign out front of your business? If not get artistic find some wood and find someone with an old real estate sign and cut out letters and put in place.
Is it possible to get a more simple web address for your website. It does seem a little tricky to remember.
Well i'm not about to change that logo i have on the sight now, managed to get it together with a logo program in the past and the current one on the site is version 2, changed font and minor changes to the overall design so it didn't costs me anything also it's been used in my newspaper ads that i've had to discontinue cause of the money issues.
No comunity notice boards that i know of anyway except some boards in food shops in the next city that i've used so much that i doubt they like me anymore heh...
I do have a simple sign outside my place but i'm sorta in the "backwaters" of my village so not many people drive by it except maybe in the summer and then i have even less costumers :-\
The url is what i got from my ISP where i have the site atm, i could have removed the multi.fi part BUT it got a litle too expensive for me to handle when i set it up :-\
Google Adwords is quite a "risky" service. Its optimization requires a lot of experience, and of course Google is interested in its fees - so competing companies may have to rise their payment for good keywords to be listed at all. Furthermore, visitors may avoid obviously sponsored search results. Free-of-charge SEO is even more complicated, though. It still mostly relies on backlinks to your website. A network of pages with really unique content matched with important keywords (Google Webmaster Tools can help discovering valuable combinations) can pull you onto the first page, but requires experience too.
Think i've used the webmasters tools sometime when i've added searchwords to my site.
I wish I could help, I looked for a "craigslist" there but it is not used like it is in the states (http://helsinki.en.craigslist.fi/) ...here it actually is legit to find jobs/computer parts there...
I'm sure your company is viable, if only people would know about it....I do like the idea of getting in the car and traveling around with business cards and flyers on your company, in your village and all of the nearby villages...maybe that is too old fashioned, but I like the idea....
EDIT: just noticed that you said it's not the right thing to do now, drive all over creation to advertise... :(
Well i should say that i've done it a litle too much to be honest and the farther i go from the village the less likly someone will phone me for my services oh and optop of that, someone has in the last months started up a computer shop in the city near here grr so that just made it worse :(
Google Adwords is indeed something you would have to put some thought in of course. But if you only do it locally that will most of the time mean there is no competition (= almost no costs, and you can set a maximum ammount anyway). As Ligh pointed out it is indeed something people may not click on, but if you're else not shown on the top four results or at least the first page people will otherwise not find you anyway.
On another note: If you are able you might want to try looking for a (parttime) job. Just a couple hours or maybe one day per week might really help you while you cross the gap between this moment and one where youre company is doing better again. Since it might take some time to build up a bigger group of customers it might help to be less dependend on your firm for a while. I don't know if it's possible in your situation but if it is this would hopefully help.
Also: if you can think of something it can be good to sent current customers and recent customers something (assuming you know their adresses). This can be a card wishing them a happy holiday (if anything noticable is comming up, like eastern I believe). This will make them think of your film again and help you keep those. It is also something people are likely to talk about to friend much more then when getting a flyer because they usually like it. So you get much more attention while having to distribute less letters, flyers or what have you.
Google adwords proberly won't work for me so i'll have to skip that alltogether.
About a part time job, done that been there found nothing, it's really dead in these areas right now, if it's not one thing it's another nice place i live in eh? :P
That about cards 'n stuff won't work because i'd need money and i don't have much not even for food sorry to say :S
When there are no other avenues available, you photocopy flyers and stick them on cars, in slots, wherever. You might laugh, but it works.
Hm i think i tried something like this last summer but i asked if i could do it and the organizers of a big place said no so i placed my car where it was vissible and put alot of fliers and rip of fliers on it heh, no luck tho.
Thanks all for the suggestions, maybe i can get something out of all this but with my slow thinkin it'll take atleast a year :-[
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Maybe your business could merge with the computer shop, or something like that. Or you could offer computer help to people who buy computers from the shop.
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allready asked if he wanted extra help but at them moment no, the shop is part of a small chain comming from the north.
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I don't think you are whiny at all, and I doubt if you'd be posting here about it if you had any other options. Dealing with encroaching larger businesses and changes is not fun, especially if your survival depends on it. Maybe now you should be playing up support for (shudder) Twitter, Facebook, et cetera and focusing on providing training to people on the new platforms. I wish I had a good idea for you. In the past I got a lot of action off of knowing legacy systems, and from businesses that depended on those systems and did not want to change or upgrade them. If you can identify businesses that might be running systems that they do not want to replace or get rid of (like print shops often do) you can maybe focus in more detail on efforts to drum up business. Eh, that all probably wasn't worth much, but I do hope you have some good luck soon.
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Thanks to all of you so here's what your ideas helped me to think up atleast for the moment.
(http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9660/080520111397.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/151/080520111397.jpg/)
It's an ad board if you don't understand it for my company.
My dad helped me to cut it into size but i've painted it myself except for the board itself as it was white from the begining.
"din lokala pc-support" stands for "your local pc-support" if you guys need help to translate.
Now just to find a place for it, do allready have one in mind except that it will costs me a 100 euros a year, many would think that's not much but as i have a very low budget hm... :-\
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Hello Elvi and everybody
Dont lose hope Elvi me i am french near paris and i know for now years you have a pc buisnes stay whit hope
(and sadly sorry if i cant do buizness whit you a little to long between you and me )
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Where I live power poles and the first 10 feet beside the road are public property and can be used for such advertisements. It might not last posted there but might be an option. You might offer a potential customer one free servicing per year in lieu of payment for hosting your sign in their window.
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lol bilbous that board i made is 2x1 meter :P way too big for a window
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There's a moment in which a business stops providing benefit and starts draining money. Check yourself to see in which stage you're on and what can you do. If it's still soon, you might be able to pull back, check what are you doing wrong, and fix it. If it's too late, stop trying. There's a lot of copanies looking for people with certain skills, maybe you could fit into them.
Also, keep in mind it's not about people buying your product/service, but you selling it. It might look like the same concept but it's not:
This means you're a passive subject of the sale, in which the customer comes to you with a need and you have to solve it.
- You sell your own product:
You're active, you know where to find and how, you look for your own customers and see why aren't they buying you, or why are they buying to a competitor, etc.
I could give more advice but I'm a tad tired… find me in game or when I join #planeshift.
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Soo...,
here are my thoughts on your problem. Generally speaking, I would say the most important thing are personal connections. Especially in a very small town. Have you asked relatives for help? I can't imagine that nobody of them (or their friends) has problems with their computers now and then. Let your family "work" for you, so to say :)
I am not quite sure to what extent you tried things (despite reading the previous posts), so sorry if this is in part a repeat:
When there are no other avenues available, you photocopy flyers and stick them on cars, in slots, wherever. You might laugh, but it works.
Hm i think i tried something like this last summer but i asked if i could do it and the organizers of a big place said no so i placed my car where it was vissible and put alot of fliers and rip of fliers on it heh, no luck tho.
Uhm... Why can't you just put stickers on cars beside the road? I see this from time to time here, flyers stuck behind the windshield.
I am surprised though that nobody mentioned your companies' homepage. My first impression when I went there was: uh, erm... okay, but... what's the point? What is this guy doing or offering me?
It took me several seconds to see the white text in the upper right corner. So, in essence, I came to your homepage and didn't have much of a clue what you were doing. Oh well, I scrolled down a bit and found this list of more or less obscure computer-parts, so my first impression was that you sell computer items.
If you'd ask me, your homepage needs a bit of a redesign. Here are some points that come to my mind:
- state what you do prominently on your site. Not (only) in a somewhat tiny white font in the upper right corner. This is not where people are looking at. Your services should be seen on first sight in the main area of your homepage, in big letters (not too big of course, but so that it is good to read, especially by people whose eyes aren't that good any more). They should be links, so that people who want to find out more can click them.
- The same can be said about the lower part. Another tiny white font tor essential information. Please, if nothing else, make the font(s) a bit bigger and change the colour in way that it is easier readable.
- Contacting you is essential, so you should put a "contact" button on the left, under the other buttons. Plus, put a contact link in the main area.
- And speaking of contact: Why isn't there a phone-number? I think that may be just as essential. Give a visitor as much possibilities to contact you as you can. After all, you are looking for people with computer-problems, so maybe they are on a friends' computer when they contact you, so an email address may only be of limited use for them, if they can't use their own computer. Offer visitors to call them back if they leave a message.
- Generally speaking, there is way too few information available in the main area of your homepage, which (in my opinion) is a less than ideal design.
- While I am talking about design: The buttons' design you use look somewhat out of place to me. What I mean: They do not seem to fit your logo, neither in shape nor in colour.
- Also, the services-page is not really ideal, imho. People have to scroll if they only want to know what you offer them. It would be better if there were a list of all your services first, possible with a (very) short description, implemented as links. if somebody is interested, they will click the links. Prices on the other hand, should not be put right on top, imho. It would probably be better if you'd put a pricing-button on the front-page (plus a link on your services-page).
- And speaking of your "services". It's nice to know that you can work at the home of the customer if necessary. But again, this isn't necessarily the most important thing. People want to know what you are doing and they want to know it fast. I think your terms of services should be put after you have stated what you are doing. Maybe make it even a button on your homepage, possibly combined with pricing.
- A smaller issue (in the true meaning of the word, heh): The flags to change languages are way too small (and maybe even placed in the wrong area). Why not putting them in the upper right corner of the main area?)
- Here is a completely different idea: Are there any voluntary-projects in your area you could participate? I am not sure if that is the right term, what I mean is: Are there any projects were they are looking for people who can teach others about computers or where they need help wit installing computers or such? I am not suggesting that you are working for free all the time, but if there is just one it may get the word out. You can make yourself known, so even if you work for free at one or two projects, this may not be lost time. Just make sure that you don't give away all your abilities for free. Basic things may be fine, but the rest should be done via your company.
As a good example, have a look at this link (and no, I am not affiliated with that service in any way. I only think that it illustrates my main issues with your homepage):
http://astravera.ca/
On this page, the user can clearly see what services are offered, combined with an easy way to contact the company (contact-button, I can't overstate that.
Hope this helps a little and good luck with your company. I feel with you as I had a company myself some years back, which wasn't doing so well after a nice start.
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thanks Mrokii for screwing my head all around gees, i basicly copied another sides design and there are links all over the place, honestly if visitors can't find it they are really blind and that site looks way worse than mine, gave me a nice yellow line down my back YUCK.
btw i've had problems with the text at the top and bottom of the page since it was made, i havn't been able to find a color that looks right with the image background but i won't delete that one either and also if you saw version 1 of that page youd proberly puke, it was way worse :P
voluntary-projects... no such stuff here.
@MishkaL1138 no there arn't any people that want my expertice around NADA, i say that cause you seem to think there are people in buisnesses that need people, nope no such thing around here.
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MY BOARD IS UP!!! :D :D :D \\o// \\o// \\o//
(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2940/110520111398.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/110520111398.jpg/)
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May all eyes be on Elicats big board of good business!
\\o// \\o//
RR
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i was just searching around a litle for open work on a local work site, the total work that was even close to me was a hole 13 and none of em worked for me, talk about crap work areas...
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The very best way to get work is to get on the phone and sell your skill to someone. Use the yellow pages.
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It looks like the most crouded place I ever seen.
No offense. :sweatdrop:
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what i meant with my last post was that i was searching around for other work not conserning my company, been trying that also for awhile to no help :-\ but i'll continue with both areas anyway as i have nothing more to lose except maybe my life ::)
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I wish you luck (crossing fingers).